Donovan shields my body as we back up. His gun is out and trained on the black car that is half in the storefront to our right. He fires a shot, and it bounces off the glass.
“Fuck!” he roars as he keeps moving backward.
I look to the left to see another black car rolling to a stop.
We’re blocked in. There’s only one way to go.
“The alley,” Torrin says at the same time I turn my head to see that our only chance for escape is the dark space between two buildings.
“Fabien, go!” Donovan orders, shoving the shaken man behind him.
Fabien’s face is as white as a sheet, and when I get a closer look at the wreckage, I see why. It’s like I can’t take my eyes off the arm sticking out from under the front tire. As if the purple sleeve isn’t enough of a hint to whose arm it is, the black imprint of a coiled snake around his wrist gives Andre away.
“I can’t leave him like that! We have to get help.” Fabien is frantic, breathing heavily and nearly on the verge of tears.
Even I know there’s no way for us to do that. I don’t bother to tell him it might even be too late.
“Fabien, we have to go,” I say, grabbing his shoulders and giving him a good shake to snap him out of it, but it’s easy to see he’s lost to the shock of the situation.
“I can…” He sucks in a gasping breath, his eyes moving wildly. “Just let me…”
He moves with his hand outstretched like he’s trying to touch Andre. I feel at a loss and don’t know what to do. He dives to the ground, wrapping his hand around the exposed skin of Andre’s visible wrist. I need to get him up, I know, I just don’t know how.
Luckily, Torrin yanks him up by the back of his ruffly coller and shoves him in the right direction. Fabien moves like he’s on autopilot as he backs up away from the danger. I grab his hand, and that seems to shake him out of it.
“This isn’t right,” Torrin says just as the four of us turn to run.
Is this what’s left of us? But how?
Shaking the thoughts off, I command my feet to move faster.
Why aren’t they chasing after us? Crap! Torrin’s right.
They weren’t trying to run us down, they were herding us.
And we fell right into their trap.
Donovan curses under his breath. He must have realized the same thing I just did.
My shoes slide over pebbles and debris as I try to come to a quick stop. Fabien’s still running into the darkness.
“Wait!” I call out as Donovan and Torrin also come to a halt beside me, but I’m too late.
Bright headlights pop on farther down the alley, lighting up the space so bright I have to squint and raise my hand in front of my face. It’s useless, I can’t see anything.
Donovan raises his gun, but I stop him with a hand on his wrist. He could accidentally shoot Fabien. I struggle to stay still as Fabien calls out for help. I want to run to him so badly. I can’t let them hurt Fabien. He wasn’t even supposed to be here.
This is all my fault.
Two shots go off, so close together it doesn’t sound real. Torrin lets out an “oomph” before he staggers and falls against the brick wall. Blood blooms on the shoulder of his already red suit, turning the silky fabric darker in a way that doesn’t feel real. Or maybe I just don’t want it to be real. My feet move in his direction as the world seems to fall silent. The pounding in my ears is getting louder.
“Go,” Torrin tells me.
I open my mouth as my eyes connect with the huge guy with a big, bushy beard coming up behind him. Torrin must see my worry, because he starts to turn around. I get nothing out as the guy’s meaty paw palms the side of Torrin’s head and slams it into the wall. I’m close enough to hear the sound of flesh splitting open as his head connects with the brick. That will haunt me for a lifetime, I’m sure.
Torrin staggers and tries to break the guy’s hold, but the big man does it again.
Tears well in my eyes as Torrin’s legs seem to turn to jelly. Then he drops like a ton of bricks, the side of his face bloody.
